Rating: 
Summary: Author notes: 3rd Edition Entirely Revised
Review: As one of the authors of the third edition of the book (2004), let me tell you that the third edition (2004) has been entirely revised, redesigned, and overhauled. Keep that in mind as you read reviews below of the 2nd (1998) and 1st editions (1993).In the latest edition, we've restructured the book around the scanning and digitzing workflow: starting with scanners and digital cameras; moving through correction; then into output onto ink jet, film, screen, and (extensively) offset press as halftones. Our Web site at www dot rwsh dot com contains a downloadable chapter and other information about the book, or you can use Amazon.com's Inside the Book feature to read pages here.
Rating: 
Summary: I'd call this a "Try it."
Review: Frequently, I find that I have to buy books that are overly technical for my purposes in order to get all the info I want. This book suits me, (though it may not suit the needs of a graphics profession). There are no buyer's guides to specific models of scanners here. However, there is a lot of detail about how scanners, scanning software and graphics programs work. The authors provide such arcana as the formula for determining what size a scanned image will be (depending on the options you pick) and goodies like this. There is info on file formats, compression, how to choose resolution and what influences the outcome of scans and how to correct the result. There is also a lot of information most applicable to professional print work, for which I have no particular use, except that info of this type helps to fill out my picture of how digital imaging works. If you want suggestions for scanning projects to do with your kids, look elsewhere, but if you're interested in the theory of scanners I would recommend this book. I'll also mention that, in my view, the writing is clear and well-organized and if I occasionally must pause to consider it's only because the material requires a little thought. This is not rocket science, but neither is it Sponge Bob and the authors treat it accordingly.
Rating:
Summary: I'd call this a "Try it."
Review: Frequently, I find that I have to buy books that are overly technical for my purposes in order to get all the info I want. This book suits me, (though it may not suit the needs of a graphics profession). There are no buyer's guides to specific models of scanners here. However, there is a lot of detail about how scanners, scanning software and graphics programs work. The authors provide such arcana as the formula for determining what size a scanned image will be (depending on the options you pick) and goodies like this. There is info on file formats, compression, how to choose resolution and what influences the outcome of scans and how to correct the result. There is also a lot of information most applicable to professional print work, for which I have no particular use, except that info of this type helps to fill out my picture of how digital imaging works. If you want suggestions for scanning projects to do with your kids, look elsewhere, but if you're interested in the theory of scanners I would recommend this book. I'll also mention that, in my view, the writing is clear and well-organized and if I occasionally must pause to consider it's only because the material requires a little thought. This is not rocket science, but neither is it Sponge Bob and the authors treat it accordingly.
Rating:
Summary: No Better Introduction to Graphic Arts
Review: I am a Vice President of Graphic Services for one of the largest ad agencies in the world. I can't recommend this book highly enough for anyone starting a study of scanning and image processing (Photoshop...). I frequently find that if my retouchers are having problems they haven't read this. It's a must.
Rating:
Summary: No Better Introduction to Graphic Arts
Review: I am a Vice President of Graphic Services for one of the largest ad agencies in the world. I can't recommend this book highly enough for anyone starting a study of scanning and image processing (Photoshop...). I frequently find that if my retouchers are having problems they haven't read this. It's a must.
Rating: 
Summary: Great title...
Review: I bought the book sight unseen based on the glowing reviews here. I wanted to get specific, detailed insight to which scanners worked well, and how to get great and consistant color out of them. I got none of that. There was no detailed instruction on how to make and use color profiles with scanners. They talk "about" scanning quite a lot, but give no hard specifics. Often the advice is that "more expensive scanners work better." That's something that I didn't need the book to tell me. It does cover a great deal of basics for first-timer users, but little for people who already know how to pump pixels. Every time I thougt it might get into some of the details I wanted, the chapter ended. It is written too casually for me. It appears to be written by a few guys who have been around publishing. It reads like a collection of casual "shop talk," more than hard info. The authors occasionally get in over their heads technically and make some mistakes trying to explain things that they admit they don't understand, like how JPEG compression works. I returned my copy, a great thing about Amazon. I got nothing out of it. One cool trick they suggested for Photoshop didn't even work. (c) 2000 kenrockwell.com
Rating: 
Summary: Too basic, no meat
Review: I bought the book sight unseen based on the glowing reviews here. I wanted to get specific, detailed insight to which scanners worked well, and how to get great and consistant color out of them. I got none of that. There was no detailed instruction on how to make and use color profiles with scanners. They talk "about" scanning quite a lot, but give no hard specifics. Often the advice is that "more expensive scanners work better." That's something that I didn't need the book to tell me. It does cover a great deal of basics for first-timer users, but little for people who already know how to pump pixels. Every time I thougt it might get into some of the details I wanted, the chapter ended. It is written too casually for me. It appears to be written by a few guys who have been around publishing. It reads like a collection of casual "shop talk," more than hard info. The authors occasionally get in over their heads technically and make some mistakes trying to explain things that they admit they don't understand, like how JPEG compression works. I returned my copy, a great thing about Amazon. I got nothing out of it. One cool trick they suggested for Photoshop didn't even work. (c) 2000 kenrockwell.com
Rating:
Summary: very good graphics reference
Review: I found the book to contain much valuable information on graphics procedures. I'm just learning about scanning and image processing and this book has told me more in one evening than I've managed to dredge up in the last month. I'm really looking forward to a new edition. After all, 4 years in computer years is a looong time. Yet even saying that, the information is still invaluable.
Rating:
Summary: Great title...
Review: I've learned some thngs from this book, however like one other reviewer stated, just when you thought it was going to get to the good stuff, some stupid flip remark would be made and the chapter or discussiong would end. Very difficult reading. Too much about prepress. Not enough about photoshop, scanning and color management. Reads like childish manerishums. Author's have very immature writing styles.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy a scanner without buying this book
Review: Newly revised and updated for the modern era, Real World Scanning and Halftones, Second Edition is better than ever and that's good! David Blatner, Glenn Fleishman and Steve Roth have taken a great book and made it even better. When Real World Scanning and Halftones (the first edition) was published back in 1993, it was focused primarily on scanning and printing grayscale images, since at that time there weren't that many people doing a lot of color work on the desktop. Nowadays, of course, just about every color image you see in print (and all you see online) has been processed digitallyand probably in Photoshop. So the Second Edition covers desktop color in much more detail, as well as adding sections on web graphics, output to today's color printers, stochastic screening, and other contemporary technologies. The goal of this book remains to "provide step-by-step, type-in-the-numbers instructions for getting great-quality images out of your scanners, laser printers, and imagesetters, using a variety of software." This is great stuff. It's not mind-numbingly complicated, but it's not brain-dead simple, either, especially if you have no background in the field. Even if you're a scanning and halftone veteran, you'll find lots of practical, useful information and advice in this book..... (Review originally appeared on PhotoBooks Web site, (c) 1998 David Herman) END
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